Christmas and College and Castiel, Oh My!
by Lucyndareads
Summary: Dean's just trying to forget his troubles at home and school right now, but Castiel won't let him be so grumpy. After all, it's Christmas, and Dean is Castiel's best friend. Destiel High School AU, written for the Tumblr Destiel Christmas Advent Calendar.


Dean's Christmas wasn't shaping up very well.

He had gone through school the whole week with a scowl on his face. Both Cassie and Lisa had asked him to go with them to the Christmas party, and normally Dean would have held them both off with flirtation until finally deciding which girl he wanted more. But he told both of them he didn't feel much like partying (they both looked very insulted).

He gave up on his classes. Trying to struggle his way through had gotten him nowhere, anyway, and it's not like it mattered anymore.

If his father noticed, he didn't let on. Normally Sam would have approached him with those puppy eyes, but Sammy was on a trip with his history class.

Only one person was on his case.

"Dean? Are you mad at me?" Castiel's deep blue eyes regarded him worriedly. He had cornered Dean as soon as they had walked into the living room of Bela's house, where the Christmas party was in full swing. Castiel looked extremely uncomfortable, dodging their excited and occasionally intoxicated peers and looking at the tinsel and lights distractedly. But he still managed to give Dean his full attention. Dean tried to keep the scowl on his face, but he couldn't, not with his best friend giving him such an innocent, concerned look.

"No, Cas, I'm not mad at you. I'm just… in a bad mood, ok? Just… I'm going to ask you to fuck off for a while. In the nicest possible way." He shouldn't have said that. Castiel disliked cursing, and his eyes were bigger and rounder now that he was hurt. Dean didn't consider himself a soft guy, but he could never bear to see Castiel upset. "Cas, for god's sake, I _told _you, it's not you."

But Castiel wasn't giving up that easily. "Then what is it, Dean?"

"It was… your douchebag brothers. I swear to god I'm going to lose it on at least one of them before the night's over." He wasn't lying about _that_. Castiel was his best friend, and a great guy, but Luke was a vicious asshole who always picked on Sam, Mike kept trying to force Dean into a fight with Luke (those two never got along), and Gabe was just being his usual smarmy dick self. The three of them didn't get why Castiel hung around with someone like Dean. All of them had graduated high school, but insisted on hanging around their old school with their younger friends, so Dean had to suffer through them a lot. They were especially unbearable at parties like this one, where there was alcohol involved.

"I'm very sorry about my brothers," frowned Castiel, "But you've been in a bad mood for a long time now, prior to this party."

Rolling his eyes, Dean snapped, "That's ridiculous. I have not."

"You've stopped doing your homework entirely, haven't you?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Dean, colleges are not going to like this."

"Oh, now I'm getting advice from Mr. Early Acceptance To College, huh? Please spare me."

Castiel sighed and spoke slowly, "Dean, this is not about me. You can easily get into college if you'd just-"

"Who the fuck cares about college, anyway?!" This came out extremely loud, and as Dean came back to reality, he and Castiel looked to see everyone in the room staring at them.

"Let's… do this somewhere else," Castiel insisted, pulling Dean out of the room, into the hallway, in the space under the staircase. Once he had made sure they were alone, he said softly, "What do you mean, 'who cares about college'? You were trying to-"

"Cas, I'm not going to college, ok? I'm not." To his horror, Dean felt his eyes burn, and he struggled to hold back tears.

"What? How do you know?"

"My dad told me yesterday. Got drunk of course, and went off on a rant telling me how 'Of course I'm not going to college, I'm too damned _stupid, _we don't have the money, it's my fault that my mom died', you know, the usual stuff. He told me I have to stay home. That I have to start working soon as high school ends. I'm gonna to work in his shop, Cas. I'm gonna fix cars with the old man for the rest of my life-"

"But you don't have to!" Castiel protested fiercely, his eyes blazing. "You don't have to listen to him. You don't have to follow him so blindly!"

Dean grimaced. "Cas, you don't understand. _Your_ dad's cool with it. I can't just…. I can't just leave him. And you've got _older_ brothers. And they're dicks. There is no way I'm leaving Sammy alone with him. It's just not happening. I have to stay."

There was a long awkward pause. Dean stared at Castiel, who was trying to figure out what to say. He looked unsure and lost for words, but he still gave Dean that unblinking stare that Dean always felt himself pulled into. "Well," Castiel finally said, "You can take a night class. Or wait a couple years. I promise you, Dean, you can find a solution for your problem. You _will _get a college education."

Dean put a hand to his face in frustration. "That's not… that's not really… I know that. I know it'll be possible for me to do something. It's just…"

"What is it, Dean?" Cas's face was alert, waiting for him to speak, and suddenly his face felt hot.

"Nothing. This is stupid." He couldn't believe he was about to… "Let's go back in and enjoy the party. I hear Ruby spiked the eggnog with vodka! Though I guess that wouldn't interest you, huh, lightweight?" He smiled and punched Castiel's shoulder. Castiel was not amused.

"What were you going to say?"

"Nothing! Get over it. Let's go back into the party; it's fucking cold out here. Are we right near the front door? Jesus." Still Cas didn't budge.

"You've been hiding something from me." It wasn't a question. Cas was pissed now, and Dean was pissed at him for being pissed. Couldn't the bastard just let it go?

"I'm hiding jack shit from you," he lied. "And I don't understand why you're getting so upset about this."

"Dean, I've done a lot for you, since we became friends. I've helped you with your homework, and I've _done _your homework. I've let you copy off me during tests. I've taken a lot of abuse from my brothers by being your friend. And I'm not sorry. I'd do it all again, I… I really enjoy being your friend. So excuse me for wanting to know what's wrong with you. I tell _you_ everything." Dean was silent. "Fine. Fine! I'm going home, you know I only go to these parties because you drag me to them. Merry Christmas." He turned, and started walking. In a flash, Dean grasped Castiel's wrist and turned Cas to face him. "Dean! That hurt. I said I was leaving."

"You want me to tell you what's wrong? Fine. I will. You're gonna go off to college and meet smarter people and better people, people who don't need to cheat off you, and you're gonna forget me. And I can't… I don't want to lose you like that, Cas. I don't think I can handle it. Ok? That's the goddamned truth." Dean realised he was quite close to Cas, and stepped back a bit.

Castiel was looking at him, his expression unreadable. "You… is that what you've been so worried about? That I would forget you? That's completely absurd. Why would… _how_ could I forget you?"

Dean nodded sheepishly, "Yeah. Yeah, and there's something else I figure I should let you know, since I'm going through this…"

"Yes?" Castiel stepped closer.

"I, ummm…" Dean cleared his throat, "I like you, Cas. I mean, not just as a friend. Like… instead of a girl. Yeah. It kind of happened slowly, and then it was weird 'cause, you know, you're a dude, and all, and uh… I don't usually do that. Or I thought I didn't. But it's true, and I didn't want to tell you 'cause I didn't want you to feel freaked out, but I guess I can't hide this anymore. I really don't want to lose you as a friend, though, I…" he trailed off as he saw Castiel was trying to suppress a smile. "What? What's so goddamn funny? I'm not terrifically happy about this, you know, and it's actually been a pain in the ass, so you can just-"

"Dean!" interrupted Castiel, still with a grin on his face. "I've been hoping to hear you say that for a long time."

Dean could barely comprehend what the hell was going on. "You… what? I don't understand- do you mean- you like…."

"I like you, too! More than a friend, I mean," exclaimed Cas, breaking into a wide grin, a blush coming to his cheeks.

"Oh," was all Dean could say. He suddenly noticed how the two of them were quite alone, and quite physically close. "But wait," he realised, "You said you told me everything… dude! What the hell? When were you gonna tell me that?"

Castiel looked down, a bit ashamed. "I'm sorry, I just was worried you wouldn't… but I guess neither of us should have been apprehensive about this situation."

There was a pause. The two of them avoided each other's gaze. Castiel started to say, "So what do we-"

Suddenly Dean lunged forward, grabbing Cas's shoulders roughly. "Shut up, Cas," he mumbled as he pressed his lips to Cas's smooth, sweet mouth. At first stunned, Castiel began to respond, opening his mouth, wrapping his arms around Dean's lower back, then, with a surprising and uncharacteristic amount of force, pushing Dean back against the wall. One of Dean's hands crept up, finding Cas's thick hair and tugging on it. Cas was consuming his world, and the only part of him that wasn't focused on kissing was wondering why the _hell _had he ever bothered with any one of those girls when he could have been doing this instead? He began to reach under Cas's hideous(ly cute) Christmas sweater when he heard the door slam open with a thud.

"Aw, man, don't stop on my account!" spluttered a tipsy Gabe. He was wearing a Santa hat, carrying several more in the crook of his right arm, and clutching a large mug of eggnog in his right hand.

Cas quickly backed off of Dean, who regained his balance quickly. They both glared at Gabe, panting hard, their faces quite hot. Dean cleared his throat, "Gabe, I'm gonna kick your ass. I will. Right now." It was hard for him to threaten, with the taste of Cas so strong in his mouth.

"I will, too," ventured Castiel, even though he could never beat Gabe in a fight, "And you _better not _tell Luke or Mike, or I promise-"

"Hey, man, don't worry 'bout it," slurred Gabe, patting his younger brother on the shoulder. "I mean, 's not like it wasn't obvious or anything. I was waitin' for you two. It's ok, Castiel, I still love you 'n respect your choices 'n stuff. Here, have a Santa hat. You too, Dean." He clumsily thumped the hats on both of their heads. "Merry Christmas." He tottered away on shaky legs, entering the main room of the party with an excited yell.

"Well… um…" stuttered Dean, "I like it. The hat, I mean."

Castiel shyly smiled, his face still quite red, "Thanks, you too. Gabe's always been the most bearable one of the three." He looked up and laughed.

"What is it?" Dean followed Cas's gaze upward and saw it: mistletoe. "Jesus Christ."

"That reminds me, I completely forgot to buy him a birthday present," Castiel replied seriously. Dean glanced at him, at first uncomprehending, then exasperated at the bad joke, and they both started laughing hysterically, clutching each other for support.

"W-well," gasped Dean after one last guffaw, "We're gonna need to tell people eventually. School people, your other brothers, your parents, my brother, my dad… ugh."

Castiel put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "We'll get through it. And if I have to grip you tight and raise you to a higher education, I will. I promise." And with that touch, Dean believed him.

"Merry Christmas, Cas."

"Merry Christmas, Dean. Thanks for the… um… _present_."

"Ditto."

After ten or so more minutes of 'alone time', they reentered the party and got eggnog, non-spiked at Cas's request.

Dean's Christmas was turning out to be one of the best he'd ever had.

Time passed, and it was late August.

Dean drove Cas to college. Cas's dad was working, and his brothers said they'd visit when Cas was settled in, as they didn't want to be there for all 'the touchy-feely good-bye crap'. Castiel didn't mind that much, though. He didn't want his first day at college to be influenced by his family, who had always seemed to steal attention from him. He had Dean with him, and Sam, because Sam had begged to come along. The little guy was already ready to go to college.

Dean had told Sam about Castiel shortly after the Christmas party, and Sammy had not only accepted it, but was completely enthusiastic about it. He too had been waiting for them to realise it for a long time. Dean and Castiel often wondered if they were the only two people who hadn't seen it coming.

Dean was going to college. He was going to community college, twenty minutes away from home. He was going to still live at home, to be with Sam and John. His new school was an hour and a half away from Cas, which was still too far, but relatively they got lucky. He was going to visit Cas every weekend, he promised.

John wasn't happy. About any of it. But Dean was learning that John didn't always know best, and John would have to deal.

They said good-bye several times after Castiel was situated in his dorm, until Sam got whiny. "Deeaaan, you can kiss him again next week! I'm hungryyyy…"

Dean gave him a look, but turned and quickly spit out, "Bye, Cas, love you."

As he was walking out following Sam, he heard Cas say softly, "I love you, Dean."

And Dean smiled, and knew it would all be ok, knew that everything was good and cheesy and perfect.


End file.
